McDonald's employee wins $10,000

White Oak eatery highlighted for customer service

In seven years working at the McDonald's restaurant in White Oak, Zulma Villatoro-Dereyes hasn't taken a sick day.

That might change.

Villatoro-Dereyes won $10,000 last week as part of a contest held by the Baltimore-Washington region of McDonald's to put the spotlight on how well employees launched the company's new espresso-based beverages.

Customers in the Baltimore-Washington region selected the White Oak fast-food eatery as the grand prize winner. Villatoro-Dereyes was selected from among employees of that site.

The offer was $10,000 or a Smart car, and Villatoro-Dereyes chose the money.

To heighten the drama, McDonald's held the event outside of the restaurant, located along New Hampshire Avenue near the Food and Drug Administration's White Oak complex. They gave car keys to five employees and the employee whose key unlocked the car won the prize.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would win," Villatoro-Dereyes said through a McDonald's translator.

She plans to use some of the money to visit her parents in El Salvador, according to McDonalds.

Twenty McDonald's restaurants from the Baltimore-Washington area were selected as weekly winners, including locations in Kensington, Germantown and Langley Park, addition to White Oak.

The restaurant, which Norberg said has been in business for about eight years, was a former Roy Rogers that does not have a drive-through window because it is not permitted.

But Jim Norberg, vice president and general manager for the Baltimore-Washington Region of McDonald's, said the standards of the White Oak restaurant are the same as any other.

"They do a terrific job," he said.

Other area McDonald's restaurants in the Baltimore-Washington Region selected as weekly winners include the following locations: